A Hodge Podge: On Apples and Habits

Happy Hump Day….or, as I’ve said before, Happy Hodge Podge!  I joined this link-up a couple of times before and had hoped to do so a bit more regularly.  A least once a month perhaps; however, it has been two months since my last one.  No doubt because I just don’t post that often mid-week but, this week seems like a good time to join again and, just maybe, get a little regular with these posts.  I see them often and (usually) enjoy the questions.  Sometimes the questions are stumpers for me.  Hopefully this one will not leave me befuddled.  The rest of the link-up is on Joyce’s blog.  That said, let’s get started….

1. Monday was National Apple Day…did you eat an apple or enjoy something made with apples on Monday? Do you like apples? Do you prefer your apples raw, baked, or in cider? Do you have a favorite variety of apple?  I do not think I ate anything with apples on Monday but I did recently…I just cannot remember the exact day.  We had one apple leftover which I did not want to spoil.  I like raw apples but the light green ones are not my favorite.  I really like Red Delicious.  They are, well, delicious:)  I also really like baked apples but I don’t have them too often.  Now that I am thinking about them…a serving of hot baked apples sounds wonderful!!

2. Do you think there’s any truth to the saying ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’. Of the following healthy habits which do you find easiest to incorporate into your life and which is the most difficult for you to adopt- adequate sleep, a balanced diet, plenty of water, eat breakfast, don’t smoke, exercise, limit alcohol,  include fruits and vegetables in your diet, manage stress, limit screen time  For sure and for certain, I think healthy habits (which an apple a day implies, I believe) keep us out of the doctor’s office.  Or keeps the doctor away.  I cannot count how many times I heard my grandmother say this…and the wisdom of that generation is very practical, I think, and probably wise to follow.  The most difficult healthy habit is, by far, managing stress.  I 100 percent believe that stress has led to a cancer diagnosis for me – more than once.  Ugh.

3. Who taught you how to drive? Do you enjoy driving? Would you rather be the driver or the passenger?  Do you have a favorite scenic drive near you?  I had driving lessons from a private company.  Many of my friends took driver’s ed through the public school but the waiting list was super long when it was time for me to learn.  My parents were kind to pay for private lessons.  Looking back, those lessons were incredibly basic and my parents’ did not get their money’s worth.  Just sayin.  I do not enjoy driving.  I suppose I prefer being a passenger more than driving but, if the distance is long, I’m not that happy on either side of the vehicle.  We have the Skyline Drive not too far from us.  It is scenic but also very curvy.  Winding through the moutains apparently does not agree with older me!

4. What small habit has had a big impact on your life? This one is actually rather easy for me.  I started walking at the beginning of the summer.  For a lot of people that is no big deal but it certainly was for this non-exercising girl.  I now walk about two miles most days and the impact has been huge.  Physically, yes – I have much more stamina and endurance – but especially mentally.  Around the same time, I started stretching first thing in the morning.  I, literally, get out of my bed and onto the floor.  This, too, has been has helpfully mentally as it has physically.  I highly recommend both:)

5. Tell us about something nice that happened to you recently. During our scripture assembly project last weekend, there was a lot of casual chit chat with the ladies at each table.  Just passing the time as we worked “assembly line” fashion.  I happened to mention to the group that I had visited the newly opened Bath and Body Works near me and was really disappointed.  I had received an email advertising a fall sale but there were virtually no fall items to be found.  They were starting to bring in Christmas but I’m not even sure that was the problem.  They just did not have much product which I thought was odd, especially for a brand new store.  Nevertheless, no fun fall scented handsoap for me.  Anyhoo, the next day one of ladies at the table showed up with – you guessed it – pumpkin scented handsoap from a different location.  Just because.  Now that was nice:)

6. Insert your own random thought here. There is a popular pumpkin patch/fun fair thingy at a local farm in our area.  And when I say popular, I mean very popular.  On any given day (even in lousy weather), the fields are full of cars and the place is packed.  There is a farm market out front that is open to the public but you can also pay to go “inside” where there are all sorts of fun things for kids, families and school groups.  As well, in the evenings, they have a “Field of Fear” event where people pay to be terrified.  Go figure.  I had thought about taking a few of the Junior Church kiddos.  To the pumpkin patch not the terrifying fields.  However.  The cost of said fun is $25 a child!  And, if having demented clowns jump out at you in the dark is your idea of entertainment, an evening in the fields will cost you $40!  Forty dollars!  I certainly must be getting old but that all just seems…well, too much.  For pumpkins and hay bales.  And a tractor ride.  Just sayin.

Well on that note, I will end.  Yes, I’m old.  And, apparently, cheap.  So glad you stopped by….please come back on Friday.  It will be time for this month’s Share Four Somethings.  Until then –